Auschwitz Concentration Camp to be renamed

[Jim O]

The United Nations has agreed to rename Auschwitz concentration camp to stress that Nazi Germans, not Poles, were responsible for the world's most notorious death camp, Poland's Culture Ministry said on Wednesday.

"Auschwitz Concentration Camp", a U.N. heritage site, will be renamed "the Former Nazi German Concentration Camp of Auschwitz", the ministry said.

"This decision marks a victory for both Poland and historical truth," Culture Minister Kazimierz Ujazdowski told a news conference.

Poland asked the U.N. to rename Auschwitz in April. Some 1.5 million people, mostly Jews, died at the camp during World War Two.
Ujazdowski said Israel and German officials had agreed to the new name.
Warsaw objects to references to "Polish gas chambers" at the "Polish concentration camp" in foreign media. Nearly 3 million non-Jewish Poles died at Nazi hands, and Poles see themselves as victims of the war.
"We hope this will help correct the misconception that Auschwitz is a Polish death camp," Ujazdowski said.


The role of Poles in the deaths of millions of Polish Jews, and at Auschwitz, is a sore topic. Some accounts say Poles assisted the Nazis at Auschwitz, where 6,000 died every day during 1944

This month, Jewish and Polish officials marked anniversaries of two massacres of Jews carried out by Poles before and after World War Two.
But Poles say their fellow nationals risked their lives to hide Jews. Poles are the largest group awarded Israel's Righteous Among the Nations title for helping to save Jews.

Some Jews were angered that Poland's communist government portrayed Auschwitz in the 1940s and 1950s as a place of martyrdom of Poles, too. Poles, Gypsies, homosexuals and Russians also died at the camp.

Source: Reuters

[Jack the collector]

Jim,

I must have missed this in the news. I have not quit laughing at the politically correct nonsense.It is intersting how those who want us to remember the atrocities go out of thier way to soften what we see and hear about the camps.

[Jim O]

I agree. Political correctness has gone way too far in our society.

[Klaus]

Good thing to hear that this is not only my opinion. I was worried there for some time.

[Tom Houlihan]

Originally Posted by Jack the collector

...go out of thier way to soften what we see and hear about the camps.

What gets me is that anybody in Poland would think that the Poles would get blamed for the camps! Okay, so they're in Polish territory. Even modern products of the American public school system know that the Germans ran those camps!

[Jim O]

Originally Posted by Tom Houlihan

Even modern products of the American public school system know that the Germans ran those camps!

Given the sorry state of American education I'd have to qualify the above as :

Even modern products of the American public school system, if they know about the camps at all, know that the Germans ran those camps!

[Klaus]

It sure can't be that bad in America, can it? Come on guys! Don't make me crap my pants!

[Tom Houlihan]

Jim - Duly noted! I guess I may have been giving too much credit!

Klaus - Er, we aren't really kidding. What passes for history lessons in regular public schools is a joke. WWII happened about 60 years ago. The US invaded somewhere in France. We won. That about sums it up.

[Jim O]

Originally Posted by Tom Houlihan

Jim - Duly noted! I guess I may have been giving too much credit!

Klaus - Er, we aren't really kidding. What passes for history lessons in regular public schools is a joke. WWII happened about 60 years ago. The US invaded somewhere in France. We won. That about sums it up.

Actually, I might add that many US school children probably come out thinking that World War II started when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in December of 1941.

[Klaus]

Wow! And I thought our schoolsystem was awful. That's a shame.
There is a discussion going on right now in Austria to change our schoolsystem. To make like the American one. This is going to be fun.